Theorizing the present
Subtitle: towards a sociology of Oromo literature : Jaarsoo Waaqoo's poetry
By: by Asafa Tefera Dibaba.
Publisher: s.n.]
Published: 2004
Place of publication: [Addis Ababa?
Language: eng
Number of pages: 228
Other titles: Towards a sociology of Oromo Literature :
Description: This book is a first attempt at a Critical Approach to studying Oromo Literaature rooted in its sociopolitical and cultural milieu. It investigates closely into what Oromo Literature does at present in critiquing and directing the Oromo sicial, political and cultural real life situation in line with the Liberation Movement.

It evolved out of the Author’s MA research in Literature with the major aim of sociologically analyzing Oromo poetry, particularly Jaarsoo Waaqoo’s poetry, Finna San Gama (Beyond Adversities). The study is mainly concerned with the poetic content analysis of Jaarsoo’s poetry set in the social, cultural and economic immediate milieu of the Oromo and in the current sociopolitical matrix of Ethiopia put under the Tigre-led Abyssinian neo-colonial rule. In this regard, the study attempts to consider available theoretical concepts which are thought to be helpful for a sociological analysis of poetic contents and in answering questions of literary and sociological nature. Thus, primarily, this book makes a descriptive assessment of the ethnographic and literary background that informed the poet and his works. Data were collected using structured and unstructured queries, note-taking and tape-recordings. The task of transcription and translation of the data was accomplished under a supervision of informed Jaarsoo’s audience both inside and outside Boorana. I have also referred works of indigenous and expatriate scholars.  

In this book an attempt is also made to cast light on impacts of the geerarsa genre on Oromo literature, particularly Oromo poetry. The intention is to establish some generic characteristics of Jaarsoo’s poetry Finna San Gama (FSG I-IV) set within the geerarsa genre, with particular reference to the Boorana dhaaduu recitative war poetry. 

Based on its subject-matter geerarsa can be categorized as traditional (time-free) and contemporary (time-bound). The traditional time-free geerarsa includes historical songs in praise of Oromo tribal warlords. Historical songs tend to be contemporary songs of their own time. Other traditional geerarsa songs are: hunting songs (e.g. gooba), songs of war of economic interests like the Boorana dhaaduu or the Arsi suunsuma, and songs of success or failure in finna/life. Contemporary geerarsa are those personal narratives or praise songs historically transformed into prison/protest songs following the dynamic sociological situations of the Oromo today. This transformation may mark the transitional period of Oromo literature; transition from what had hitherto been mere praise song to a political song of its time. Both the traditional and the transitional Oromo oral genre, doubtlessly the geerarsa, must have paved the way towards modern Oromo literature which is expected to have a great didactic role in directing current Oromo sociopolitical life situation in some way. The geerarsa genre and the dhaaduu recitative war poetry have influenced the content and performance of Jaarsoo’s Finna San Gama I-IV in which the poet recites issues of resource-based conflicts, nationalism, and social and development topics analyzed in Chapter 4. Based on the generic interpretation of those popular genres—geerarsa and dhaaduu—FSG can be classified as the Boorana dhaaduu recitative poetry. In data analysis the poetic contents are delineated based on their subject-matter, function and context. Thus, in a final analysis, like contemporary geerarsa, FSG focuses on different subject-matters (sociopolitical, cultural and economic), not just on war events unlike the traditional dhaaduu recitative war poetry. The significant role of the universal Oromo geerarsa and the Boorana dhaaduu in the content analysis of Jaarsoo’s poetry set in the Oromo sociopolitical context is therefore the aspect that a sociological analysis can reveal (Visit on Web Link "SOCIOLOGY OF OROMO LITERATURE).
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 194-199).
"The present study was originally presented as 'Towards a political sociology of Oromo literature: Jaarsoo Waaqoo's poetry' for my MA thesis at Addis Ababa University, 2003"--T.p. verso.
Table of contents: label: Chapters I - 5
title: INTRODUCTION; SOME THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS; SOCIOLOGY OF GEERARSA GENRE; THEORY INTO PRACTICE; CONCLUSION
pagenum: 12 - 183